Zika Outbreak News & Update: Vaccine Human Trials Could Start Within Months

This week officials from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) declared that researchers may develop a Zika vaccine faster than previously thought. The first tests on human subjects could begin in a few months.

According to Voice of America, Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, declared that government scientists have been able to create a hybrid vaccine that targets the Zika virus. The project is leveraging previous research done on two similar viruses, dengue and West Nile. 

The scientists are working on fine-tuning the vaccine. Their aim is to manufacture enough Zika virus vaccine for tests on 20-30 healthy individuals as soon as this summer. Fauci added that if the experimental vaccine would pass the initial tests then a larger-scale trial could begin in early 2017.

The national Vaccine Research Center is located at the National Institutes of Health's main campus in Bethesda. The center was created by former president Bill Clinton in the year 2000 with the aim to focus on an HIV/AIDS vaccine. The national Vaccine Research Center has an annual budget of $100 million and employs around 250 people.  The center has now a broader mandate that includes developing a universal flu vaccine.

According to The Washington Post, the director of the Vaccine Research Center, John Mascola, declared that, based on what we know about its structure and DNA, making a vaccine for Zika "should be quite feasible". He added that NIH is contacting already some commercial partners in order to prepare for the possibility that the vaccine would be effective and should enter the large scale manufacturing process.

Some private efforts to develop a vaccine for the Zika virus are also underway. The vaccine division of the French pharmaceutical giant, Sanofi Pasteur, announced on Feb. 2 that they work on a Zika project. A South Korean company has also announced that it has begun research into Zika and an Indian biotech firm declared that it will start tests in animals with two Zika vaccines.